Citizens of the internet

This week, our inquiry discussions were centred around how to keep safe online and the fact that we are all digital citizens.

What is a digital citizen?

Digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses computers, the internet, and digital devices to engage with society on any level. 

As a class we discussed what one has to do (and not do) to be considered a responsible digital citizen. The aspects that stood out the most for students is the importance of first getting permission to post an image or video of someone else on the internet and useful ways to deal with cyberbullying. They were intrigued by the fact that the attributes of a digital citizen are all related to being responsible - a term that we have been discussing quite a bit.

I am very proud to say that our students are already exhibiting responsible digital citizenship!

We deepened our understanding of being a responsible digital citizen, by investigating what safe online practices looks like. Using their personal experiences and guidance that they have received from their parents, students provided their ideas and solutions for various scenarios that one may be faced with online. 

During their IT lesson this week, Mr Huber took the students back in time, looking at the history of technology. Starting with the Stone Age and moving all the way to the Information Age, and looking to the possible future eras that we may encounter. Discussion was held around the advancements of everyday items during these periods. In groups, the students brainstormed about what is considered technology. 

Mr Huber and I were impressed by how the students have grown in knowledge; understanding that technology does not not only involve battery-operated and electrical devices but that it is the evolution of ideas and inventions.

Over the course of the week, the teachers and staff at our school completed their responses to the technology survey that the students designed. Most students have also already conducted their in-person interviews with their parents regarding their use of technology. 

This coming week, the students will try to find the common threads across the three batches of research results; students, teachers and parents. In this way, students will be able to identify how technology is used and organized within our school organization.

Have a super duper weekend!

Ms Theona 🍁

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Upcoming events:

Friday, 4 October: Outing to Suma Sea World Aquarium

Saturday, 5 October: Oktoberfest

Monday, 7 October: No school due to the Saturday school event

14 - 18 October: Parent-Teacher conferences

The Screen time Dilemma

 This week, the Grade 2s started reviewing the technology survey responses from the Grade 3, 4, and 5/6 students. The responses from the upper primary students sparked quite a contentious classroom debate regarding what is considered an appropriate amount of screen time per day, for children. 

Most students in our class are only allowed 1 to 2 hours of screen time a day, while one or two are allowed up to  5 to 6 hours a day. The latter garnered quite a few gasps from the class! We discussed the negative effects of too much screen time and (fortunately) the students could not think of any plausible positive effects. 

The students agreed that appropriate screen time amount is dependent on age, purpose, the content being viewed, and whether or not it is supervised screen time. They also came to the conclusion that the amount of screen time is also dependent on what the parents' perspective on the matter is. 

Students jumped at the opportunity to let their creative juices flow by creating their unique mobile phone selfies. All the "selfies" will form part of a whole-class art collaboration. Stay tuned for the final product!

Next week, the students will conduct their technology-use interviews with their parents and we will start sorting the information from our student and teacher surveys. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms Theona 🌻

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Upcoming events:

Friday, 4 October: Outing to Suma Aquarium

Saturday, 5 October: Oktoberfest

Monday, 7 October: No school due to the Saturday school event

We are heat-enduring inquirers!

This week, our students continued with the finding out stage of our unit about technology and how it influences and connects us. With very high temperatures here in Kobe, the students have been trying their best to push through the heat fatigue and share their ideas and thoughts!

We kicked off the week by looking at inventions in time and place. In pairs, students had to work together to guess the name, function, and year of creation for some of the greatest inventions over the last 500 years.

Getting deeper into our finding out stage, students designed a survey about technology for the upper primary students, and the teachers at our school, and next week they will interview parents in person. 

Students have also been spending time doing coding during our unit blocks as well. Mr Huber shared the Studio Code link on Seesaw and students may continue with their coding program at home too. Please remind your child not to skip stages when coding at home, as it causes hiccups in later stages.

 It has been encouraging to see the help and support that the students offer each other when they reach a tricky part of the many coding levels. 

They are growing in responsibility! 😀

Have a wonderful extended weekend! Keep safe and have fun,

Ms Theona

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Upcoming events:

Monday, 16 September - No school due to the public holiday

Saturday, 5 October - Oktoberfest

Technology researchers

We put on our researcher caps this week and started digging deeper into what technology means. The students researched the origins of specific technology devices and modes; the year of invention, the inventor(s) and some interesting facts about the device/mode. Many were surprised by how long ago the printer was invented and how recent the development of the drone is. They came to some fascinating realisations once we started analyzing the results:

"That's so sad for the person who had a baby the day before the camera was invented in 1816; they just missed out on being able to take a photo of their baby!" 

Continuing to build on their understanding of technology and their responsibility as digital citizens, the students had an IT lesson with Mr Huber this week, where they discussed AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the existence of artificially created, and manipulated images on the internet. The students also started brainstorming their IT class essential agreement.

The students are slowly grasping the fact that they are now the seniors of Lower Primary and that at the end of this school year, they will embark on their next big step, Upper Primary. To support positive character-building, we have been discussing what it means to be responsible. This will also link into our unit of inquiry over the next two weeks, as the students learn about their responsibility in virtual and social media environments. 

We also celebrated the first of the four September birthdays this week; Happy Birthday, Karen!

Remember to check Seesaw for our weekly Reading and Maths homework.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your homeroom teacher,

Ms. Theona

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Upcoming events:

Saturday, 5 October - Oktoberfest 

Please keep an eye on the event calendar on the school website.